Diseased meat could end up on our dinner plates thanks to new EU food laws

CHANGES to EU safety checks have prompted fears diseased meat could end up in sausages and pies destined for our dinner tables.

Concerns have been raised that diseased meat could end up in pies and sausages [GETTY/BBC]

One expert has voiced his concerns that new rules, which took effect on June 1, could mean that diseased animals could now go undetected when they are slaughtered.

In the past, carcasses were cut open for inspection but under the new European regulations supported by Britain's Food Standards Agency (FSA), they will have to rely on visual checks alone.

Ron Spellman, director-general of the European Working Community for Food Inspectors and Consumer Protection (EWFC), which represents meat inspectors across the EU, told the BBC: "Last year we know that there were at least 37,000 pigs' heads with abscesses or tuberculosis lesions in lymph nodes in the head. They won't be cut now."

Meat from pigs' heads is recovered by specialised parts of boning plants and goes into pies, sausages and other processed foods.

Mr Spellman, who has 30 years' experience as a British meat inspector, added: "There's no way to see those little abscesses, little tuberculosis lesions without cutting those lymph nodes."

Around eight million pigs are slaughtered to eat in the UK each year [GETTY]

There's no way to see those little abscesses, little tuberculosis lesions without cutting those lymph nodes

Ron Spellman, director-general of the EWFC

The new rules were drawn up by the European Food Safety Authority but are based on scientific advice from the FSA.

The FSA's chief operating officer, Andrew Rhodes, claimed it is better to have a hands-off system using visual checks to reduce cross-contamination, because bugs like E. coli and campylobacter are causing scientists more concern.

He said: "The risks to the consumers are increasingly from microbiological and pathogenic hazards and that's what we must control.

"We cannot simply ignore the risks that are brought by touching, cutting and handling products that are later going to go on to be cooked and eaten, we have to do this properly."

Every year around eight million pigs are slaughtered for meat in the UK.

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesman said: "Cutting up pig carcasses as part of meat inspections increases the risk of harmful bacteria spreading on to meat.

"Under the new regulations, pigs will continue to be inspected for lesions by a vet and again after slaughter by a meat inspector.

"We will continue to inspect pigs for export using the methods agreed with the markets we export to."

Shadow food and farming minister Huw Irranca-Davies said he had called for an urgent meeting with the FSA, which he hoped would take place in the next few days, "to ask why this change has come about".

Mr Irranca-Davies said: "We want categorical assurances that this does not in any way jeopardise consumer safety or Britain's reputation as a supplier that operates to the highest possible standards."